Building a PC for Skyrim

[terrarizing]

I'm looking to replace my old laptop with a gaming PC. Since I have found that building it myself would get me the most bang for my buck that's what I have elected to do. I have a budget of $500-$750 to spend and I'd like to get the best graphics that I can get for the price. I'd also like to be able to run Oblivion, New Vegas, and Fallout 3 as high as I can so keep those in mind when recommending parts.

 

Also I'd like it to be able to hook up to a monitor via an HDMI cable.

 

Include price of everything except a mouse, keyboard, or monitor.

[Boombro]

This web site has some builds http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/

[tcn31]

I'm looking to replace my old laptop with a gaming PC. Since I have found that building it myself would get me the most bang for my buck that's what I have elected to do. I have a budget of $500-$750 to spend and I'd like to get the best graphics that I can get for the price. I'd also like to be able to run Oblivion, New Vegas, and Fallout 3 as high as I can so keep those in mind when recommending parts.

 

Also I'd like it to be able to hook up to a monitor via an HDMI cable.

 

Include price of everything except a mouse, keyboard, or monitor.

 

I`ve completed most of the quests in skyrim and it runs perfectly 60+fps on old hardware which i currently own at max settings at 1680x1050..

 

Intel core 2 quad q9550 @ 3.4ghz

Nvidia GTX 480

4gb DDR3 ram @ 1066mhz

 

You really dont need the latest and greatest hardware to run this game , not sure about higher resolutions but at 1680x1050 it runs perfectly at max settings.

[HotAssassin]

I`ve completed most of the quests in skyrim and it runs perfectly 60+fps on old hardware which i currently own at max settings at 1680x1050..

Intel core 2 quad q9550 @ 3.4ghz

Nvidia GTX 480

4gb DDR3 ram @ 1066mhz

 

You really dont need the latest and greatest hardware to run this game , not sure about higher resolutions but at 1680x1050 it runs perfectly at max settings.

 

 

Dude.. that card is rare these days... the only one I can find new is a Zotac for $699 Oo

 

Ok you are going to want an i5 for sure, I have an i5 4440 which right now is available for $174

 

and you're going to want at least 3.5/4 GB of vRAM if you mod your game, which, since you are here on the Nexus, I'm going to assume you are. I have a MSI GTX 970 twin frozr 4 GB (or w/e) and it is spectacular and at $339 its quite a bit cheaper than that GTX 480. That said it's still pricey for your budget.

 

How's about this:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sTPJZL

 

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sTPJZL) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sTPJZL/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54460) | $178.99 @ SuperBiiz

**Motherboard** | [MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-h81mp33) | $43.99 @ SuperBiiz

**Memory** | [G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl9d8gbsr) | $65.98 @ Newegg

**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $53.49 @ Directron

**Video Card** | [Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB DirectCU II Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-r9290dc2oc4gd5) | $259.99 @ Newegg

**Case** | [NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-s210002) | $37.99 @ SuperBiiz

**Power Supply** | [Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx600) | $57.99 @ Micro Center

**Optical Drive** | [Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas124-04) | $16.99 @ Directron

**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-885370635690) | $92.00 @ B&H

| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $857.41

| Mail-in rebates | -$50.00

| **Total** | **$807.41**

| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2015-03-23 19:08 EDT-0400 |

Was the best I could find close to your budget.

[saurusmaximus]

In case you haven't noticed, the video card is where the biggest variation in cost lies. Whatever you go with, make sure you have at least 2gb of VRAM, anything less and you will be upgrading in another year or two anyways. Do yourself a favor and get at least a 4 core processor; it's true that, strictly speaking, Skyrim only needs two, but looking to the future you are going to need a quad to run anything well and Skyrim does run better on one.

[Shadeybladey]

You could have a look here:

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/pc-build-guide-recommended-mid-range-gaming-pc/

 

They also did one in about 2011/12 for a Skyrim PC for about £450, but I can't find it at the moment. That build did not include a keyboard, mouse and monitor and assume you already had one. But you could use the same components and get a monitor, or you could upgrade those components for the same price if you already have a decent monitor.

 

As long as you aren't going to run massive texture and graphics replacers a 1 GB card should be fine, 2 GB better, of course.

 

But a lot of the processing, especially shadows etc, is actually done by the cpu, not the gpu on the card.

 

Minimum Recommended specs are:

 

Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU

4 GB RAM

Windows 7

DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1 GB of RAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon HD 4890 or higher)

Sound Card

Free Disk Space: 6 GB

Having the game installed on an SSD drive also helps it run a bit more smoothly.

But you'll also want a decent monitor. Mine is 24", 16:10, but I run Skyrim in a 16:9 letterbox.

~

[Shadeybladey]

strictly speaking, Skyrim only needs two, but looking to the future you are going to need a quad to run anything well

 

And some people, like Chesko, are now able to get their mods to use 4 core multithreading that speeds up heavily scripted tasks enormously. Skyrim is pretty bland without good mods.

 

And PCs have a use outside gaming, so the better the kit the easier the job.

 

~

 

[HotAssassin]

 

Minimum Recommended specs are:

 

Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU

4 GB RAM

Windows 7

DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1 GB of RAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon HD 4890 or higher)

Sound Card

Free Disk Space: 6 GB

Having the game installed on an SSD drive also helps it run a bit more smoothly.

But you'll also want a decent monitor. Mine is 24", 16:10, but I run Skyrim in a 16:9 letterbox.

~

 

 

If you're running 2k or bigger textures and ENB you NEED 3GB of vRAM or more. I'm only running 50 or so mods and I'm pushing the 3.5GB on my 970 at 1080p.

 

Also, if you check the OP's list of games and think about Bethesda's hosting it's first ever conference at this year's E3 convention, then we(and everyone else) can only hope that they will be announcing another game that will be added to that list.

 

I think it will be safe to assume that any upcoming addition to the Fallout or TES series, and the subsequent mods for that title, will be best handled by an i5.

 

I have to agree that an SSD is the way to go, though I have not found it in my budget to upgrade to one, just yet....

[Amyr]

What's your exact budget? Because 500-750 is not a good tell. 250USD can make a huge difference on how your PC performs in games. I'm just gonna assume it's 750:

 

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: ASRock H81 Pro BTC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.49 @ Directron)

Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB DirectCU II Video Card ($289.99 @ Amazon)

Case: NZXT H230 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($61.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $755.43

Pretty decent PC I would say, can totally run modded Skyrim on 1080P just fine.